The Development and Examination of an Instructional Program Making Use of Replacement of Hat String: Through Practice Aiming at Individual Optimization in Elementary School Home Economics Care for Clothes Unit

An instructional program that utilized the practice of replacing the chin string of a red-and-white hat in elementary school home economics classes was developed, and its educational effectiveness was examined through classroom practice. Many children replaced the strings on their own hats, but some children replaced the strings on the hats of younger children. The following results were obtained. (a) The children, who were unskilled at hand sewing, worked by trial and error. But they did not give up and could replace the string at the end. (b) After class, 70 % of the children expressed a desire to replace the chin string of their hats by themselves. Based on the above results, it was concluded that the instructional program that utilized hat string replacement was able to increase the significance and individual sense of usefulness and motivation of hat care.